Research

Research Grant Program

NORD’s Research Grant Program provides seed money in small grants to academic scientists studying new treatments or diagnostics for rare diseases. The clinical researchers supported by NORD’s research grants provide preliminary data indicating that a treatment (drug, device, or medical food) may be safe and effective when used for a larger number of patients. Researchers can then use the preliminary data to apply for larger multi-year government grants or to attract a commercial sponsor who will manufacture an orphan product and get it approved for marketing by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Rare disease research funding opportunities being made available through NORD.

Rare disease research funding opportunities being made available through NORD Member-Organizations.

Read NORD's Research Program Policy to learn how NORD helps individuals, families, groups, or organizations sponsor research.

NORD Awards Research Grants, Fellowship

NORD’s Medical Advisory Committee has recommended, and the NORD Board of Directors has approved, the awarding of five research grants in November 2007. The investigators, their institutions, and their projects are as follows:

Heather McDermid, PhD
University of Alberta, Canada
“Understanding Cat Eye Syndrome by the Development of a Mouse Model”

Robert M. Tanguay, DSc
Université Laval, Canada
“Gene Expression and Liver Cancer in Herditary Tyrosinemia”

Ronald G. Haller, MD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
“Mitochondrial Aconitase: a Measure of Oxidative Stress in Kearns Sayre Syndrome.”

Punett Opal, MD, PhD
Northwestern University
“Molecular Basis of SCA 1”

Sarah Ying, MD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
“A Novel Clinical and Research Tool for the Diffusion-Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation of Coherent White Matter Tracts in the Brainstem and Cerebellum”

NORD/Roscoe Brady Fellowship
In addition, at the recommendation of the NORD Medical Advisory Committee and with approval from the NORD Board of Directors, a second year of funding has been awarded to Manisha Balwani, MD, of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, for her work on Gaucher disease: “Modifier Genes in Type I Gaucher”. Through the NORD/Roscoe Brady Lysosomal Storage Diseases Fellowships, funding of $50,000 to $70,000 per year is made available to young physicians conducting clinical studies related to the lysosomal storage diseases.